How Medicine Has Shaped Female Bodies

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For centuries, the medical field has defined what we "know" about women's bodies—but how much of that knowledge is actually based on science, and how much is just bad history? In this episode we dive into the ways the medical profession has controlled and sometimes outright misrepresented women's health. From ancient myths about hysteria to modern-day gaps in research, we explore how misinformation took root, why it still lingers, and what it means for healthcare today. With a mix of history, humor, and critical discussion, we break down the facts, challenge the misconceptions, and ask: who really gets to decide what’s "true" about women’s bodies? 

SOURCES: 
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Davis, D. C. (2019). Reproductive injustice: Racism, pregnancy, and premature birth. NYU Press.

Ehrenreich, B., & English, D. (2005). For her own good: Two centuries of the experts’ advice to women. Anchor Books.

Schiebinger, L. (1989). The mind has no sex? Women in the origins of modern science. Harvard University Press.

Showalter, E. (1985). The female malady: Women, madness, and English culture, 1830-1980. Pantheon.

Washington, H. A. (2007). Medical apartheid: The dark history of medical experimentation on Black Americans from colonial times to the present. Anchor Books.

Herzberg, D. (2020). White market drugs: Big Pharma and the hidden history of addiction in America. University of Chicago Press.

Barker-Benfield, G. J. (1976). The horrors of the half-known life: Male attitudes toward women and sexuality in nineteenth-century America. Harper & Row.

Briggs, L. (2002). Reproducing empire: Race, sex, science, and U.S. imperialism in Puerto Rico. University of California Press.

Martin, E. (1987). The woman in the body: A cultural analysis of reproduction. Beacon Press.

Obermeyer, C. M. (1999). Female genital surgeries: The known, the unknown, and the unknowable. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 13(1), 79-106.

The Guardian. (2020). How medical bias against women can be deadly. 

Villarosa, L. (2018). Why America’s Black mothers and babies are in a life-or-death crisis. The New York Times Magazine. 

Weiss, S. (2018). Women are still being institutionalized for defying gender norms. 

Hysteria & Female Mental Health: Showalter, E. (1985). The female malady: Women, madness, and English culture, 1830-1980. Pantheon.

Racism in Gynecology & Medical Experimentation: Washington, H. A. (2007). Medical apartheid.

Misrepresentation of Female Anatomy: Schiebinger, L. (1989). The mind has no sex? Women in the origins of modern science. Harvard University Press.

Women & Opioid Prescriptions in the 19th Century: Herzberg, D. (2020). White market drugs: Big Pharma and the hidden history of addiction in America.